


Reclaimed

by ani_bester



Category: Invaders (Marvel), Marvel
Genre: First Meetings, WWII, back from the dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-16
Updated: 2012-11-16
Packaged: 2017-11-18 19:19:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ani_bester/pseuds/ani_bester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Toro and Bucky meet again after both  fail at being dead. A "first time the re-meet fic"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reclaimed

**Author's Note:**

> This was done for the challenge "Bucky/Toro: Welcome Home

James walked to the back of the exhibit without glancing at any part of it. Seeing the life that had been stolen from him recreated for the public had been hard enough the first time he'd visited this historical display.

Reaching the back, he stopped between a photo display and a text covered wall. He tried not to look, but finally he found his gaze drawn to the photos. One showed him and Steve, masks off, laughing over a fire; another showed him trying to teach Toro to grapple while Steve watched. The others were just as personal; they'd never been meant for the public.

James scowled and looked over at the text on the wall. It was an account of what The Invaders had done during Operation Market Garden. Bucky skimmed the words and shook his head. He couldn't help but notice that nowhere did it mention the fight Torch and Namor got into the day before the battle, and it sure as hell didn't mention what he and Toro had done the night before.

"Thank god for small favors," he muttered.

Without thinking, he pulled the note from his pocket and crumpled it in his hand. He didn't need to look at it. The encoded message that had been scrawled onto the unlined paper would be the same.

Meet me at the Captain America Museum by the back wall 2:00 next day -Hot Stuff.

James had found the note in the Avenger's drop box yesterday. He would have disregarded it as a blatant trap except for a few details. He had never seen any historical note of his calling Toro "Hot Stuff," the hand writing was Toro's, the messy, tentative, unskilled script was unmistakable, and the code was an old WWII code, one of the few Toro had ever been able to get down pat.

So, blatant trap aside, Bucky had shown up as requested ready to put someone's face into a wall until they explained what the hell they were playing at. There were certain things people were just not going to be allowed to fuck with.

He stiffened. A figured approached him. Without turning, he noted the man stopped exactly 5 feet from him and looked up at the photograph wall.

"You know, I wish they hadn't put that photo of me and you up there. It feels . . . intrusive."

James gasped. He couldn't help it.

He turned, ready for any kind of attack, refusing to believe the voice belonged to who it sounded like. He almost did attack, because the person behind him was too tall, too broad, too old to be Toro.

Except . . . except it was Toro, just not the one ingrained in his memory.

This one was real.

  
"Your dead," James whispered in voice sounding rough and small.

Toro smiled, "So are you. Looks like we both got being dead kinda wrong."

James took a step back and shook his head. He glared at the man who could not be Toro. "You've got to be a clone or something, they can do that Buck Rogers shit now."

Toro shook his head. "From what I hear, you got the Buck Rogers shit, pal. I got, well I don't know what I got honestly. Lovecraft? Digging out of my own grave was really-" James watched as Toro bit his lip and shrugged as he always had when he was at a loss for words.

He reached out and put his hand on Toro's shoulder. It was solid.

James stepped closer and the man before smelled like Toro; he'd gotten more than a little familiar with the odd fuel-like smell that clung to Toro's skin and there was no way he could mistake it.

Toro glanced at the hand on his shoulder and smiled again. He reached out and put his own hand on James's arm, his metal one. He saw Toro's eyes widen in surprise then soften into the look Toro always gave him whenever he'd come back to the camp with someone else's blood staining his blue tunic. The one the meant, if they were alone, he was about to pull James close and kiss him.

And then Toro was pulling him close. "We need to find somewhere private." Toro's hot breath tickled against James's ear.

James shook his head, "For a kiss? Nah, not as much anymore."

Toro blinked but moved closer. The hand left his shoulder and went to his chin, tilting it up. James moved up the rest of the way and pressed his lips against Toro's. It was a short kiss, barely a full second before they parted, but it was enough.

"God-," Jame's whispered, pulling Toro against him in a hug. "God, it's good to see you Hot Stuff."

Toro's arms wrapped around him. "You too, Buck. You too."


End file.
